Reminder: 5 quarts of oil to avoid oil overfill

[Mad Hatter]

Since there are two active threads on this subject, I'll post this here and in the General Wrangler Discussions forum thread re. "Dealer Messed it up Again":

After my first oil change last week resulted in an overfilled engine per the dipstick, I emailed the Service Manager at the dealer involved. I explained the situation as I understood it, including the observation that it wasn't his dealer's shoddy work, rather there seemed to be a communications issue between FCA and its dealers (I should have borrowed "Failure to Communicate" from a great old movie, but I digress...).

By coincidence, I received late last week both a JK and a JL Owner's Manual from Jeep Customer Service, as I had requested a printed copy to use if/when I was out of cellular range (and thus the on-screen manual doesn't work). I copied the pertinent pages showing the different capacities, 6 quarts and 5 quarts, respectively for the JK and JL 3.6L engines and put them into a pdf file, attached to the email. (Copy of this pdf is attached for your use with your own service departments.)

And I gave the Service Manager links to 3 of the pertinent threads on JL Wrangler Forums.

He contacted me back earlier today and asked me to bring my vehicle in as soon as possible for a new oil change. I was able to do that this afternoon. While I was there, he informed me that he had contacted his district rep and then went to the Chrysler Service Documentation and, reading down all the detailed specifications, confirmed the 5 quarts for the 3.6L Wrangler JL engine. He was very much surprised at this change, since apparently every Wrangler since the mid-1980's has used 6 quarts of oil! He also suggested this may have been done when they went to full-synthetic oil, perhaps to save money on the sixth quart or perhaps the extra quart wasn't needed any more, due to reduced consumption.

So Service Departments can be responsive! It's just up to us now to gently show the rest of them the 6-quart error of their ways!

Good Luck out there!

MH

(Moderator, if there is a way to link so as to avoid duplicating posts in active parallel threads, please let me know. Thanks.)

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[Jabarsetti]

I’m in for my first oil change and sure enough the customer service rep tried to tell me that all the Chrysler 3.6’s take 6 Qts. After a pleasant conversation (seriously). He apologized for any confusion as the system pulled up 5 Qts. He spoke with the technicians and they agreed with me also. If you’re on the front range of Colorado. I’ve had nothing but honesty and great service from Faricy Boys in Colorado Springs. We’ll see what the outcome is when there finished with this oil change but these guys have been top notch through the entire process of purchasing my JLUR and a previous factory issue with the transmission gasket.

Edit: Oil change complete and the oil is sitting pretty on the dipstick. Again, I can't speak Highly enough about Fairicy Boys in Colorado Springs!

 

[californiajeeping]

Just out of curiosity, I called 4 random California based Jeep dealerships, pressed the buttons to get a service advisor and 100% said JLs take 6 quarts of oil. I called 4 random Jiffy Lubes. 100% said JLs take 5 quarts. 3 of them put me on hold and looked it up, 1 knew without having to look it up. Shame.

@JeepCares should instigate a dealer bulletin to educate their own dealers. I wonder how many people are riding around with 6 quarts in their JLs, assuming the Jeep dealerships know what they are doing and not checking.

 

[vtech243]

Adding in my sob story -- changed my own oil this past weekend and low and behold -- was 6 quarts. Engine runs much better now! I used Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic 0W-20.

 

[californiajeeping]

Adding in my sob story -- changed my own oil this past weekend and low and behold -- was 6 quarts. Engine runs much better now! I used Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic 0W-20.

Can you elaborate on running better? For example, was it idling rougher with 6 quarts and idling smoother with 5 quarts?

 

[Litfuse]

Just out of curiosity, I called 4 random California based Jeep dealerships, pressed the buttons to get a service advisor and 100% said JLs take 6 quarts of oil. I called 4 random Jiffy Lubes. 100% said JLs take 5 quarts. 3 of them put me on hold and looked it up, 1 knew without having to look it up. Shame.

@JeepCares should instigate a dealer bulletin to educate their own dealers. I wonder how many people are riding around with 6 quarts in their JLs, assuming the Jeep dealerships know what they are doing and not checking.

I have called out Jeepcares numerous times on this issue. Crickets. Silence. Nothing. They are a PR joke. Nothing more. I can’t believe this issue is still going on. This shows a major disconnect in communication for FCA. Hey FCA, look up Baldrige and get back with us.

 

[vtech243]

Can you elaborate on running better? For example, was it idling rougher with 6 quarts and idling smoother with 5 quarts?

So the 2018 JK takes 5W-20 OR 5W-30 approved in the owners manual vs. 0W-20 in the 2018 JL with the "same motor". Probably why there is so much confusion. My hypothesis is if mechanics are over-filling, they are likely using the wrong oil viscosity as well.

Could 100% be placebo effect, but the engine just feels smoother overall and revs much easier (feels less sluggish). Notice more on acceleration than at idle but again feels smoother across the rev band.

 

[Jimac]

So the 2018 JK takes 5W-20 OR 5W-30 approved in the owners manual vs. 0W-20 in the 2018 JL with the "same motor". Probably why there is so much confusion. My hypothesis is if mechanics are over-filling, they are likely using the wrong oil viscosity as well.

Could 100% be placebo effect, but the engine just feels smoother overall and revs much easier (feels less sluggish). Notice more on acceleration than at idle but again feels smoother across the rev band.

Not exactly same motor some tuning and spec difference also different size oil pan JK pan 2” deeper thus 6 quarts versus 5 quarts JL

 

[Dkretden]

Since there are two active threads on this subject, I'll post this here and in the General Wrangler Discussions forum thread re. "Dealer Messed it up Again":

After my first oil change last week resulted in an overfilled engine per the dipstick, I emailed the Service Manager at the dealer involved. I explained the situation as I understood it, including the observation that it wasn't his dealer's shoddy work, rather there seemed to be a communications issue between FCA and its dealers (I should have borrowed "Failure to Communicate" from a great old movie, but I digress...).

By coincidence, I received late last week both a JK and a JL Owner's Manual from Jeep Customer Service, as I had requested a printed copy to use if/when I was out of cellular range (and thus the on-screen manual doesn't work). I copied the pertinent pages showing the different capacities, 6 quarts and 5 quarts, respectively for the JK and JL 3.6L engines and put them into a pdf file, attached to the email. (Copy of this pdf is attached for your use with your own service departments.)

And I gave the Service Manager links to 3 of the pertinent threads on JL Wrangler Forums.

He contacted me back earlier today and asked me to bring my vehicle in as soon as possible for a new oil change. I was able to do that this afternoon. While I was there, he informed me that he had contacted his district rep and then went to the Chrysler Service Documentation and, reading down all the detailed specifications, confirmed the 5 quarts for the 3.6L Wrangler JL engine. He was very much surprised at this change, since apparently every Wrangler since the mid-1980's has used 6 quarts of oil! He also suggested this may have been done when they went to full-synthetic oil, perhaps to save money on the sixth quart or perhaps the extra quart wasn't needed any more, due to reduced consumption.

So Service Departments can be responsive! It's just up to us now to gently show the rest of them the 6-quart error of their ways!

Good Luck out there!

MH

(Moderator, if there is a way to link so as to avoid duplicating posts in active parallel threads, please let me know. Thanks.)

You are impressed because this service department was “responsive”.

I’m gonna suggest to you that this service department, for 2 years, was too lazy to look up the specs for a new vehicle and consequently overfilled like hundreds of new Jeeps causing whatever problems that may have caused.

TWO YEARS. Frankly, this is utterly unacceptable. Being ‘nice after your ignorance is surfaced’ doesn’t make it any more acceptable to me.

 

[californiajeeping]

You are impressed because this service department was “responsive”.

I’m gonna suggest to you that this service department, for 2 years, was too lazy to look up the specs for a new vehicle and consequently overfilled like hundreds of new Jeeps causing whatever problems that may have caused.

TWO YEARS. Frankly, this is utterly unacceptable. Being ‘nice after your ignorance is surfaced’ doesn’t make it any more acceptable to me.

Amen. In addition, I wonder how many assumed the dealer knows what they are doing and are riding around with 6 quarts now.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I'm not defending my dealer's past practice, only noting their response to my bringing the issue to their attention.

If you assume that many dealers have made this same mistake, due to FCA not properly training its network, there are probably thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Wrangler JL's with the 3.6L engine running around with an extra quart of oil. Warranty time bomb? Whether it is one or many, it will be a pain in the *ss to all owners that have to take their vehicle in for a warranty repair. That damage to customer relations may be worse than the actual damage to the engine. We'll see.

Still don't understand why FCA hasn't put out a TSB on the subject. The ostrich head in the sand approach to problems never works.

 

[californiajeeping]

I'm not defending my dealer's past practice, only noting their response to my bringing the issue to their attention.

If you assume that many dealers have made this same mistake, due to FCA not properly training its network, there are probably thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Wrangler JL's with the 3.6L engine running around with an extra quart of oil. Warranty time bomb? Whether it is one or many, it will be a pain in the *ss to all owners that have to take their vehicle in for a warranty repair. That damage to customer relations may be worse than the actual damage to the engine. We'll see.

Still don't understand why FCA hasn't put out a TSB on the subject. The ostrich head in the sand approach to problems never works.

And I guess that means the service department doesn't get trained on new vehicles, which is even more scary. Especially when their customers have to train the dealerships on how much oil to put into a vehicle.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Californiajeeping, I totally agree with the scary aspects of this situation, and thus your comment!

 

[DozierJLUS]

So I feel like a fool. I decide to follow the maintenance schedule in the manual, change the oil when the light comes on. Using my free new wave oil changes, bought the Jeep in May ‘18, had its first oil change in Nov ‘18 with 8804 miles. Just now after being hella late this seeing this thread checked my service ticket and low and behold they put in 6 quarts and the level is up on the braided cable. ‍ I can’t believe I didn’t even check behind them.

 

[1quick1]

So I feel like a fool. I decide to follow the maintenance schedule in the manual, change the oil when the light comes on. Using my free new wave oil changes, bought the Jeep in May ‘18, had its first oil change in Nov ‘18 with 8804 miles. Just now after being hella late this seeing this thread checked my service ticket and low and behold they put in 6 quarts and the level is up on the braided cable. ‍ I can’t believe I didn’t even check behind them.

I did it as well and drove 7k miles on 6 quarts.

Call your dealer and report back what they say. If it's like my dealer they'll "ensure" me it won't be a problem and come in ASAP for another oil change.

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